Reolink Altas PT Ultra firmware upgrade support nightmare

BillK

I have been round and round with Reolink “support” for 3 days now with them trying to push the current firmware to my Altas PT Ultra. It’s been a disaster and is making me seriously rethink my change to Reolink from Arlo.

I’ve had my Altas PT Ultra for a little over a week now. so far I like the camera and have also invested in a Home Hub Pro.
I submitted what I thought was a very simple request to have the most current firmware pushed to my camera.

Got a response asking for a screenshot of my system info which I immediately provided.

Then I had to wait another 24 hours for them to acknowledge it. (Reply: Thanks for following up! Please let me know when your camera is online and you can use it standalone. I will push the latest firmware version to your camera. Thank you for your patience and look forward to your reply!
Have a nice day!)

I replied that I had just installed a Home Hub Pro and was unsure how to do that. Waited another 24 hours for a reply which was this. (Reply: Thank you for reaching out and This is Oia from Reolink Support Team.
Noted. I have pushed the firmware. Please make sure that the camera is operating under the Hub Pro (even if the screen is black). After that, please go to Update Device page to check the firmware on Reolink Phone App, as there should be an updated version available for upgrade. Refer to: Online Reolink Firmware Upgrade via Reolink Software. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best Regards).

I tried every possible option to update firmware - connected to hub, in standalone mode!, Removed and reconnected both cam and hub, Started over from scratch and nothing worked. So, once again I replied that the update is not showing up and I’m not sure what to do next - and I’m now awaiting another reply. Guessing since it’s Saturday, I won’t be getting one today and will now have to wait until Monday.

Is this whole 1 reply every 24 hours typical of Reolink support - or did I just get “lucky” here?

My Altas PT Ultra is on 3.0.0.4008_24090210.

My Home Hub Pro is on 3.3.0.369_24112931.

I am trying to get new firmware to enable the Smart Battery function and Continuous Recording on the camera. I just got a 12w Solar panel from Reolink and would to see how well it keeps the Altas charged while recording 24/7.

I did just get another reply which was…
(Thanks for getting back. Please reset the camera: https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014965574
And then upgrade again to see if the issue is solved. Thanks for your time and looking forward to your reply. Best Regards,
Reolink Support Team-Josephina)

And of course that DID NOT work, so yet again I get to wait another 24 hours for another reply - which will likely be useless.

Why this is so complicated is beyond me.

I am about ready to return every Reolink item to Amazon and find a different solution.